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My HD died on my MacBook pro so I decided to change the HD myself. I didn't have the original snow leopard disc so got a copy from a friend. When I try to boot from disc (holding c) is runs the DVD drive, followed by apple symbol. After a short while, the apple symbol is replaced by a no entry symbol. Totally at a loss as to what to do. Tried different copies of the copied disc, but same issue.

Any thoughts?

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3 Answers 3

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Is your friend's Snow Leopard disk one he got with a Mac, or one he purchased at retail?

Disks that came with Macs are hardware-specific, if it came from a different model/revision than your MacBook Pro, then it likely won't work.

Try your install with a retail disk (or a Lion/Mountain Lion installer on USB) and see if that works.

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You need to use the disk that was shipped with your MacBook or atleast the orginal OSX disk for the same model.

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Was your machine delivered with Snow Leopard? Apple made Lion and Mountain Lion machines either incompatible with, or block the installation of Snow Leopard - even refurbs that once could have run SL.

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  • This is not always true, and especially not so with refurbished systems. This generally only applies to new hardware refreshes that occur after a new OS has been released.
    – bispymusic
    Commented Mar 4, 2013 at 4:00
  • Correct but it is a possibility worth considering.
    – JRobert
    Commented Mar 6, 2013 at 19:57
  • Reconsidering my previous comment: I recall inquiring about refurbed iMacs offered with 10.7+ that would, in their day, have been 10.6 capable, but which Apple Tech Support confirmed to me on the phone could no longer be downgraded. Their specific advice was, "If it is delivered with Lion/Mountain Lion, it would no longer be compatible with Snow Leopard."
    – JRobert
    Commented Mar 9, 2013 at 22:42
  • Yes, that is the official Apple response. Any system made after a new OS release officially only supports the new OS or later. However, from my experience as an Apple sales rep, I have first-hand accounts of such systems often being downgradable still.
    – bispymusic
    Commented Mar 11, 2013 at 20:57
  • Good to know - I needed a SL-capable machine (Apple refurb) and watched the refurb store for the occasional ones that would be delivered w/SL. Are they downgradeable simply by installing SL or do they need something else to enable it?
    – JRobert
    Commented Mar 11, 2013 at 21:38

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